The family of west Belfast woman Joleen Corr say that she has died after treatment was withdrawn due to the pain of her injuries.

Ms Corr (27), a beautician, sustained horrific brain injuries and was left in a coma after being savagely attacked in Downpatrick.

Her family say that she passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning surrounded by loved ones "in the arms of her mother."

The mother-of-one was assaulted in a house in Thomas Russell Park in the Co Down town in 2016.

She was beaten so badly she was barely recognisable.

Joleen spent six months receiving specialist treatment in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital following the attack and was later transferred to Musgrave Park Hospital.

A court ruling in March resulted in medical staff withdrawing all food and fluids from the woman, who has been in a vegetative state since the brutal attack.

Carol Corr - who is also mum to Cherie (23), Jim (20), Chloe (12), and nine-year-old Christine - has been at her daughter's side every day since the devastating 2016 attack.

Speaking earlier this month Joleen's heartbroken mother said: "I feel like when she was beaten up, we lost her, but now we've lost her all over again and this time it's forever. My heart has been ripped out and shattered into a million pieces.

"It's not fair on her to make her have to cope with this pain any longer.